Alton Brown is in Western New York spending the day exploring chicken wings to reconsider his 2018 dismissal of Buffalo's wing cred. His first two visits are to Bar-Bill Tavern in East Aurora and La Nova in Buffalo.
Making Alton's Savory Polenta tonight and randomly checked out his You Tube Channel to see where he and Elizabeth reside in the world this evening. Only five more shows---and one in Canada months later. See them if you can! Thanks for the 2 minute 15 second fix.
Alton, It was very manly of you to give Buffalo a second chance. As a bonafide celebrity, I hope you had some bodyguards nearby.😆 Of course, just because a dish originated in a certain place does not mean that others have not improved upon the original. (IME, pizzas in the USA are far better than I have found in Italy, but that's just me...) As with all food and drink, the only criterion that matters is what YOU like. Personally, I like my chicken wings baked crispy in the oven; but if you prefer them fried, then you should have them fried. To me, the perfect wing sauce is Franks with some butter and garlic, plus a little habanero sauce, because Franks is not quite hot enough for my tastes. Other people may prefer a mild BBQ sauce, or maybe a teriyaki sauce, or maybe no sauce at all, and that is how they should eat their wings. I have friends who are wine snobs, who think you can't get a decent bottle for less than $40; but if you find a box of wine for $12 that YOU enjoy, then I say you should buy the damn box, and put the savings to better use! And if you want to drink red wine with your fish, then you should drink red wine with your fish. In most cases, I am very particular about what I like for myself, but everybody has the right to decide for themselves. To illustrate, I recently made pasta alla carbonara, which I have made hundreds of times over the past 50+ years. Before making my usual recipe, I decided to watch about a dozen videos on making this dish. Every single chef was from Italy (or trained there), and every one claimed their recipe is the "authentic" version, yet every single recipe was different. Guanciale or pancetta? 3 eggs, 5 eggs, 8 eggs? Egg yolks, or whole eggs, or maybe a combination? Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano, or maybe a combination? Which of a dozen different pastas should you use? Ultimately, I suspect all of these dishes would be delicious, yet each would be a little different. If anybody tells you there is only one "authentic" way to prepare any dish, tell them Vizzini said they are full of merda!
